It was our last night at the bed and breakfast inn in the snowy mountains of Lake Tahoe. My husband, Lee and I stayed in our rustic bedroom, snuggled under the covers with deli sandwiches and glasses of wine. Beneath the twinkling pixie lights the inn keeper strung above our headboard, we huddled under the blankets to watch a movie on Lee's tablet as the rooms didn't have TVs but had excellent Wi-Fi. I cuddled my head onto my husband's t-shirt covered chest, both of us naked below the waist. There was a knock at our door. We both looked up from the screen.
Lee answered with, "Enter."
The door creaked open. My mouth nearly dropped when the couple we met in the hot tub opened the door. Steve, dressed only in pajama bottoms entered with a bottle of cognac, two glasses, and his wife in tow. Shana was dressed in a pink cotton sleep shirt that skimmed her thighs. She glanced around the rustic room which was so different than the others before her eyes settled upon me and Lee reclined against the headboard propped up on pillows.
Steve asked, "Mind if we join you?"
Lee didn't even look my way to ask if I was okay with it.
"Sure," he answered.
We both scooted over to allow the younger couple to crawl in with Shana coming in first. Steve crawled in after her and flipped the covers back over his legs before he uncorked the cognac. Lee grabbed our empty wine glasses from the window sill above our heads and handed them to Steve. The four of us crowded the queen size bed and Shana was pressed shoulder to shoulder with Lee. I wished that somehow I had ended up sandwiched between Lee and Steve. Steve reached over Shana and Lee to hand me my glass of cognac.
"Thank you," I said, politely accepting the glass.
What is the proper etiquette for conducting small talk with strangers who just crawled into your bed?
I asked, "How was skiing?"
"It was good," answered Shana. "Lots of fresh powder."
"The lift lines weren't bad because it's the middle of the week."
After Lee received his drink, he raised his glass in a toast to which everyone followed his lead.
"To new friends," he said.
We all smiled with sly but shy smiles before we sipped our drinks. The cognac ran smoothly down my throat, warming my belly with liquid courage.
Then Lee casually said, "So, you guys want to watch some porn?"